By Paul Maryniak | Ahwatukee Foothills News
The Arizona Department of Transportation still must acquire 43 percent of the properties it needs for the South Mountain Freeway and has yet to finish about a quarter of the highway’s design, the developer’s spokeswoman told the Chandler Chamber of Commerce last week.
But a November 2019 opening of the entire 22-mile stretch is still anticipated, Theresa Gunn, spokeswoman for Connect 202 Partners, told the Chamber’s public policy committee during a panel discussion on Valley freeways last week.
Meanwhile, a representative of the Ahwatukee organization trying to stop the freeway urged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at a hearing earlier last week to withhold a permit needed for its construction until a court fight is concluded “to avoid unnecessary liability and permanent damage to the nation’s aquatic resources.”
